ST Report: 05-July-91 #727
From: Bruce D. Nelson (aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 07/07/91-02:58:10 PM Z
From: aj434@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bruce D. Nelson)
Subject: ST Report: 05-July-91 #727
Date: Sun Jul 7 14:58:10 1991
*---== ST REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---*
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July 05, 1991 No.7.27
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> 07/05/91: STReport #7.27 The Original 16/32 bit Online Magazine!
-------------------------
- The Editor's Desk - CPU REPORT - MAC REPORT
- NEOCHROME PD?? - JVC & SEGA - IBM & APPLE?
- WAACE/FALL'91 - FAST TECH CO - FUJI ZONE
- STR MAIL CALL - PEOPLELINK DEAD - STR Confidential
-* FAST TECH T-20 TESTED & REVIEWED! *-
-* GEnie -> TOPS <- PRODIGY! *-
-* 400,000 ATARIANS in FRANCE! *-
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> The Editor's Podium
Originally, this editorial, intended for the Fourth of July weekend
issue, was going to be a Clark Kent type offering. You know, mild mann-
ered etc... In fact, I had quite a bit to say in this week's editorial
but at the last moment I heeded the advice of Atari Explorer's, editor
John J. concerning the "power to ignore". It works! Thanks again John.
In this issue, we have, as in the past three weeks, included a number
of letters we have received in response to our request for the reader's
impressions of Atari and its future. Keep 'em coming in! We will print
them. Tell 'em like it is... they don't 'read' it. At least thats what
they'd like you to believe. :-)
The spoof of STReport, recently composed and circulated by a few of
our northern neighbors was hilarious! Although it broke all rules of
common decency (immature, incessant personal attacks) and US copyright
violations, it graphically illustrated just how far reaching and effective
STReport is. When educated folks must resort to personal attacks and
slurs it clearly establishes they have no real rebuttal for the material
they disagree with. I suggest, if those who "re-arranged and edited" this
ditty would have spent as much time writing a rebuttal or essay/opinion a
great deal more could have been accomplished. In fact, had they done so
and sent it to STReport, it might have been in this issue.
Oh Well, as David Zucker said; "When they spoof you, its proof you
have arrived! It gives real legitimacy to you and your goals.
Ralph.......
TODAY'S NEWS ..TODAY!
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> STReport's Staff The regulars and this week's contributors!
================
Publisher - Editor
------------------
Ralph F. Mariano
PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION
----------- -------------- ------------
Robert Retelle Charles Hill R. ALBRITTON
STReport Staff Editors:
-----------------------
Michael Arthur Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Dana P. Jacobson
Lucien Oppler Brad Martin Walter Daniel
Oscar Steele John Szczepanik Dan Stidham
Contributing Correspondants:
----------------------------
Michael Lee Richard Covert Roger Stevens
Brian Converse Oliver Steinmeier Ed Krimen
Tim Holt Andrew Learner Norman Boucher
Ben Hamilton Joe Mirando
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================
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE ATARI FORUMS (July 5)
WIN $25 COMPUSERVE CONNECT-TIME CREDITS
=======================================
We're looking for new and interesting files for the file libraries of
Atari ST Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) and the Atari ST Productivity Forum (GO
ATARIPRO). Twice each month, during the months of July, August, and Sep-
tember, the sysops of the Atari Forums will award a $25 CompuServe con-
nect time credit to the individual who uploads the best new file to
Library 1 ("NEW UPLOADS"). This $25 credit can be applied to *ANY* ser-
vice on CompuServe, not just time spent inside the Atari Forums!
What defines the "best" new upload? Factors in judging will be
uniqueness, general interest (the number of downloads received), quality
of graphics (if applicable), usefulness or entertainment value.
All uploads to Library 1 ("NEW UPLOADS") will automatically be entered
into this promotion. Of course, uploads of files already existant in our
libraries do not count. (Although, new versions of previous entries are
eligible.) You do not need to be the author of the upload to win, but
you MUST have sufficient rights to the program to make it an acceptable
upload according to CompuServe operating rules (public domain and
shareware programs are acceptable, for example.)
In case of duplicate uploads of the exact same file, the sysops will
accept files based upon time of the first uploaded copy. The first
upload period will run from July 1st thru July 15th (inclusive). Judging
will be done by the sysop staff of the Atari Forums (influenced by
comments from the membership, so be sure to let us know which new files
you like and why!)
One credit will be awarded to the best new upload in ATARIARTS and
another for the best new upload in ATARIPRO. Please address any
questions to Ron Luks [76703,254] via CompuServe Mail (EMAIL) or a message
in any of the Atari Forums.
UPCOMING CONFERENCE WITH DAVE SMALL!
The Atari Forums will be sponsoring a special conference with Dave
Small on Thursday, July 11th, at 10:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time in the
Electronic Convention Center (GO CONVENTION). Please read file ECC.TXT in
LIBRARY 1 ("New Uploads") of the Atari Arts Forum (GO ATARIARTS) for com-
plete information on how to participate in this special event.
ATTENTION REGISTERED DEVELOPERS!
Release 3 of the Atari Debugger is now available in LIBRARY 7
("Registered Developers") of the Atari Productivity Forum (GO ATARIPRO).
CODEHEAD SOFTWARE ANNOUNCES...
CodeHead Software announces CodeHead Utilities Release 4! Many new
features and several new programs in this package make it a major upgrade.
Read CU4DOC.TXT in LIBRARY 16 of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN) for
additional information and ordering instructions.
PROGRAM OF THE WEEK FROM DOUBLE CLICK SOFTWARE
Find your mouse instantly! Download file DCHOMY.ARC from LIBRARY 13
of the Atari Vendors Forum (GO ATARIVEN) and Double Click Software's DC
HOMEY will center your mouse on the screen by pressing a simple key com-
bination.
NEW IN ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
The sysops have enabled a new message section for discussion on
Peripherals (Section 11).
A free hard disk driver for your Portfolio? That's right! Steve of
BSE, has uploaded the driver files which allow you to setup an external
hard disk for your Portfolio using their Flashdrive interface. The driver
files are now available in LIBRARY 1. (Make sure you read ATFLAS.DOC
first.) Please note that SYSOP*Marty Mankins has a new User ID number.
Please address all correspondence to Marty at 75300,1770. A program for
Windows 3.0 users that will read/write/convert the Portfolio's .ADR files
to .CRD format. Download file PRTCRD.ZIP from LIBRARY 1 of the Atari
Portfolio Forum (GO APORTFOLIO).
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM ON COMPUSERVE
HAS BEEN DESIGNATED AN
OFFICIAL SUPPORT SITE BY ATARI CORPORATION
"GO APORTFOLIO TO ACCESS THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM"
***********************************************************************
> CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS
=================
Issue #27
Compiled by: Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
- Cupertino, California APPLE OFFERS CORPORATE SUPPORT
---------------------
To further highlight the importance that Apple Computer is placing on
its corporate installed base, the company has expanded its direct assis-
tance, fee-based support program and has made it available on a nation-
wide basis.
The company staffs the Technical Coordinator Answerline from 9 a.m. to 6
p.m., customer's local time, and 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Hawaii.
- Arlington Heights, Ill. AMERICAN PEOPLELINK GOES OFFLINE
-----------------------
PLINK (American Peoplelink) has quietly and mysteriously gone offline.
At the same time, its direct-dial voice and data, as well as toll-free
telephone lines, have been disconnected.
Sources close to the online system -- system operators (sysops) of the
various special interest groups (SIGs) on the service -- have reported
that they are owed money for services rendered. The evidence suggests
that Plink's financial problems have caused the service to go offline,
both by voice and by data.
One of the service's most popular SIGs has signed with Portal, another
online service. According to Portal, CBM*Harv, the popular sysop who ran
the Amiga Zone area on Plink until its demise last Friday, has agreed
with Portal to reinstall the SIG on the Portal computers.
- New York, New York PRODIGY MAY HAVE TO CUT WORKFORCE TO
------------------ SURVIVE, WHILE GENIE MAKES MONEY WITH
1/4TH THE SUBSCRIBERS
A leading analyst of the online market, Joshua Harris of Jupiter Commu-
nications, says that Prodigy may have to cut its 900-person workforce by
at least half if it is to be a long-term survivor in the online market-
place.
While Prodigy recently claimed to have 1 million subscribers and has
added over 300,000 subscribers in the last year with heavy advertising,
much will depend on Prodigy's renewal rate. According to Harris, "They
have got to make some major news. You can't lose money every year based
on potential." He added, "With a bad economy it won't help -- people
don't have much discretionary income, and this requires that."
The online marketplace is presently undergoing a shake-out in which
small firms like Peoplelink are hitting problems. But even large firms
like Prodigy are under pressure to earn profits, Harris says. In
contrast, Harris said, GEnie is making money, relative to the industry,
with only about 250,000 subscribers.
- Tokyo, Japan JVC AND SEGA DEVELOP CD-ROM
------------ GAME MACHINE
Japan Victor Corporation (JVC) and Sega Enterprises have announced plans
to jointly develop a powerful game machine based on CD-ROM technology.
The new games machine will be equipped with sophisticated audio-visual
features, which will create extra clear pictures and quality sound. The
new games machine will be a combination of Sega's upgraded game machine
and a CD-ROM drive developed by JVC.
- New York, New York APPLE & IBM IN ACCORD
------------------
Arch-rivals Apple Computer and IBM Corporation have announced that they
will form a joint subsidiary to develop object-oriented software to run
on a variety of operating systems. Under the announced agreement, Apple
and IBM will create a "jointly owned and independently managed" system
software company. The software produced by this firm will be offered for
sale for systems manufactured by IBM, Apple and other vendors.
Specifically mentioned in the announcement were "Intel's x86, Motorola's
680X0, and IBM's RISC System/6000 POWER architecture" as target plat-
forms. It also stated that Apple and IBM will "use object-oriented tech-
nology in future product offerings, as well as in current operating sys-
tems, assuring that applications written for current operating systems,
including AIX, OS/2, and Macintosh, will run in these new environments."
IBM and Apple also stated plans to further integrate the Macintosh into
the IBM world by jointly developing and marketing networking and com-
munications products to extend the Macintosh into the IBM "enterprise
environment." Additionally, IBM and Apple will develop an enhanced ver-
sion of AIX, IBM's version of Unix, which will support both Macintosh
and OSF/Motif user interfaces.
The IBM-Apple agreement is seen by industry analysts as a counteraction
to the announced Microsoft/Com-paq/Digital alliance former earlier.
- Maidenhead, Berkshire, England COMMODORE ANNOUNCES NEW CDTV FEATURES
------------------------------
In what many view as an attempt to breath fresh life into the Amiga CDTV
project, Commodore has announced several new features for its new multi-
media computer. All of the new features enhance the unit's video capa-
bilities.
One new feature, CDXL, lets developers display video images from a CD-
ROM disk on screen. CDXL can display about 12 frames per second, or half
the number of frames normally used for full-motion video films. The
effect is reported by observers to be satisfactory until objects move at
high speed across the screen.
- Seelandstrasse, Western Germany FIRM INTROS HARD DISK LIFE EXTENDER
-------------------------------
Generally speaking, hard disks fail completely after three to four years
of regular use. Now a West German company called Eurocomp has come up
with a method of spinning the drive life out still further -- turn it
off while not in use.
Eurocomp's Diskwatcher hardware unit plugs into a PC expansion slot and
controls all hard disk accesses. If there are no accesses made during a
given period of time, then the disk is switched off. When the hard disk
needs to be accessed again, the hardware buffers the request and spins
the drive back up to speed.
- Denver, Colorado DISKS NOT HARMED BY AIRPORT SECURITY
----------------
According to tests conducted on June 11, 1991 by Colorado TravelBank and
the Denver/Colorado System Operators Association, airport security sys-
tems do not adversely affect diskettes.
The tests were conducted using 5.25" - 360k, 5.25" - 1.2 meg, 3.5" -
720k and 3.5" - 1.4MB Dysan and 3M disks, each containing identical data
files. Each box of disks was placed in a typical traveler's carry-on bag
to simulate actual traveling conditions. Each box was then passed
through the security screening device from one to 24 times.
After the testing, bit level file comparisons were made to determine any
adverse effects on the disks. It was concluded the diskettes used in the
test suffered no adverse effect from repeated exposure to the security
scanners. Not one bit on any diskette was damaged, and conclusion was
that a traveler need not be concerned with damage from these scanners.
- Bogota, Colombia COMPUTER EATS COLOMBIAN CONSTITUTION
----------------
According to Sunday's Washington Post report, after destroying all (or
what is thought to have been all) preliminary copies of the new Colom-
bian constitution, someone accidentally erased the only remaining com-
puter copy. The report does not explain just how the files were deleted
from the computer but does point out that the person in charge was the
nephew of a member of the committee which drew up the new constitution.
Changes to the political, economic, and judicial structure of the coun-
try were all contained in more than 400 articles of the proposed new
constitution, and all of them were stored on a computer, ready to be
presented to the country's constitutional convention for a vote before
it loses its legal standing at midnight on July 4.
- Fort Worth, Texas TANDY CLOSES OUT COMPLETE PC FOR $199
-----------------
Tandy is offering the most remarkable bargain in entry-level computing -
a complete MS-DOS computer for little more than the cost of a keyboard
and MS-DOS. The Tandy 1000HX, a 256K, unified computer/keyboard provides
entry-level MS-DOS computing in an eminently affordable package, comp-
lete with MS-DOS, keyboard, CPU or central processing unit, and, in
short, a complete computer, minus only a monitor, for $200, while they
last.
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IMPORTANT NOTICE!
=================
As a reader of STReport International Online Magazine, you are entitled to
take advantage of a special DELPHI membership offer. For only $29.95 ($20
off the standard membership price!), you will receive a lifetime subscrip-
tion to DELPHI, a copy of the 500-page DELPHI: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE and over
$14 worth of free time.
NOTE: Special offers can be found in your favorite Atari magazines:
START CURRENT NOTES ST INFORMER
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JOIN -- DELPHI
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
--------------------
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for just $20 a month! The $20 is a monthly fee that covers your first 20
hours online via direct dial into one of DELPHI's two direct-access lines,
or via a special Tymnet 20/20 Access code. It also gets you additional
hours at just $1.20 per hour. And you get free access to several services
on DELPHI as part of the Advantage Perks.
Other telecom services may have additional charges. Canadian Tymnet users
have an additional telecom charge. Office Time access (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
weekdays) may have an additional charge. And of course, other restric-
tions may apply. But this is still an amazing deal!
IMPORTANT NOTICE!
=================
As a reader of STReport International Online Magazine, you are entitled to
take advantage of a special DELPHI membership offer. DELPHI has waived the
sign-up fee! For a limited time, you can join the World's Premier Online
Service for FREE! Members can access DELPHI worldwide through hundreds of
local access lines.
For more information please contact:
DELPHI at 1-800-544-4005 and ask for Member Services.
DELPHI- It's getting better all the time!
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> FAST TECH ONLINE STR Feature DELPHI'S FAST TECH CONFERENCE
============================
Good evening, and welcome to DELPHI's ST Advantage. Tonight we're
pleased to have Jim Allen, of Fast Technologies, as our guest for a Formal
Conference. For those of you who don't about Jim, he is the creator of
the T16 accelerator board, which makes your ST run at about twice the
speed it used to before you installed the T16. And he is busy working
on two newer, faster accelerators, the T20, an even faster version of the
T16, and a 68030 board, that uses Motorola's 68030 chip to replace the
stock 68000 chip. (There is a great deal more involved, but Jim can talk
about that.)
That said, is there anything you'd like to say first, Jim?
FASTTECH>
Sure, first I'd like to say it's nice to be on Delphi, I kept
messing up appointments but finally got here!! Tonight, I'd like to
answer questions about the TURBO20 and some about the TURBO030 that
will be announced formally in a few days.
The TURBO20 is our latest wonder, it is a 20Mhz 68000 accelerator,
that uses a 16Mhz chip and a 20Mhz oscillator, and a number of neat
tricks to get as much performance as possible out of the poor old
68000 chip ;-)
It has been ported to the Amiga (ouch) and Mac, and will soon be THE
premiere 68000 accelerator in the world. We've received some good
news, that many of our European competitors have dropped out of the
speedup business, so the T20 on the Atari has a bright future.
An overview:
The TURBO20 uses a static ram cache, a small high speed memory, plus
the higher operating speed of a 20Mhz processor clock, to give your
ST a boost to just over 2X performance in most typical real world
uses. It has the ability to switch back to true 8Mhz to allow the use
of older speed sensitive SW, and also has cache on/off, and video
board caching on/off controls. Our STE adapter is planned to have the
same autoswitching setup as the MegaSTE so that speed and cache
on/off will be controlled by the new XCONTROL panel as if your STE
was a MSTE. The videoboard caching on/off is used when a board like
the Maxon MGE card, which has a coprocessor on it, is used. Caching
is not allowed when "other" processors might be altering the data
without the T20 knowing about it.
The board is as long as the 68000, and about 3/4" wider. So it still
fits everything, except the STacy is still a real pain... but doable.
That's about it for features, we gave up on "fast rom" since the ROMS
needed are just too expensive, and the speed increase isn't worth the
cost.
Take it away Gordie...!
.Gordie>
Okay, anyone have any questions? <grin>
.Matt>
Well, I was wondering if a T030 would fit in a STacy?
.FASTTECH>
Very doubtful to no ;-) But there will be a 520/1040 version of the
T030 that will fit, it's about the size of a PCspeed. GA
.Matt>
When is it due out?
.FASTTECH>
Depending on how busy we are with the T030, by August. I'd like to
show it at Dusseldorf, and ship by Sept. GA
.Matt>
ahh thanks. GA
RMORROW>
What kind of prices are you talking for a T030 or T20? I don't need
a rocketship, just a dragster..<G>
.FASTTECH>
The TURBO20 is $329, the STE adapter is $49, and the TURBO030 is
still in the air.
.FASTTECH>
The TURBO030 has two models, both 40Mhz units, with 68030 included.
The low cost model has cache only, like the T20, but MUCH FASTER...
it runs around 5X in speed improvement. It will retail for $849. The
same board, with the ram circuit populated, has 4Megs or 16Megs of
very, VERY fast static column ram (like the A3000) and will retail
somewhere under $2000. So, it will be competitive with the
"competition". It will also be quite a bit faster ;-)
.Gordie>
Can you grow the base model up to the high end model?
.FASTTECH>
The cache-only model can be upgraded... by FAST TECH... for the
difference in price between the two units. The board is 5"x5" and is
all surface mount design. It has seperate CPU & FPU clocks, the
50Mhz 68882 option is $300. The FPU operates at up to 75Mhz without
any trouble!! The TURBO030 also has a 68000 chip onboard so you can
run any and all ST Software when you want...just flip a switch ;-)
.Dana>
OK, Jim, business aside <<grin>>, now that the T16 is no longer
available with a 520 w/ 2.5 megs, what would you recommend for the
user who wants that occasionally needed extra speed running such
things as DTP, etc., and if I upgraded to a MSTE, would I be able to
port the accelerator to the new machine?
FASTTECH>
I'd buy a T20, Dana, and be very happy with it!! Occasional use is
NOT what the TURBO030 is targeted at, the T20 makes much more sense,
and will make your life much easier...newsletter-wise ;-) GA
.Dana>
hehe, would I be able to take the T20 out and move it to a MSTE? GA
.FASTTECH>
Yes Dana, you can move it to an STE, the MSTE is already accelerated,
I'd sell the 520/T20 combo and get the MSTE when upgrade time came.
GA
.Dana>
Thanks Jim. GA
RMORROW>
What's the difference between static ram and dynamic ram that you've
been talking about? ga
.FASTTECH>
Dynamic ram is really only half the ram chip. The rest of the "chip"
is made up of other ICs. By throwing out a lot of functions, you can
pack many more bits in the chip. The downside is you need support
circuits to keep things ticking. Also, simpler storage cell design
saves space for even greater increases in how many bits the chip can
hold. But refresh circuits that keep this simpler storage mechanism
alive add to the over all complexity.
Also, all this "off chip" stuff slows down the overall cycle time
that a dynamic ram memory can have. Static rams use advanced storage
techniques, and have everything required to be a ram onboard, so
they're easier to use, faster, but much less dense. So you use Drams
for large memory systems, and little SRAM caches to make those DRAMS
look good ;-) At least that's the way the world works so far. GA
RMORROW>
Wow...Thanks. GA
.Raven>
I came in late, so I don't know if you covered this, but why would I
want to buy a TURBO030 board as opposed to an SST? ga
.FASTTECH>
Simply because it's FASTER and has features that set it WAY apart.
Some of this I won't talk about yet, but there are some very unique
aspects to the T030. I wouldn't have done it if I thought there would
be any question as to choice ;-) GA
.Raven>
Do you have benchmarks on both boards? How about cost difference?
.FASTTECH>
The benchmarks will be released in a week or so. I am licensing some
software goodies for the roms that affect overall speed. Until that's
settled, I don't want to go babbling numbers.
.Raven>
I look forward to the info. Could we get it put up online here?
.FASTTECH>
I can tell you the typical access time for ram is 75ns, with 275ns
bursts where appropriate. The TT runs about 400ns bursts.
Yes!! I will make sure it gets up here same day as GEnie... that's a
promise. GA
.Raven>
Thank You. GA.
.Dave>
Jim, does the T20 come with a math coprocessor for us Spectre owners
<ducking :)> GA
.FASTTECH>
The 68000 chip uses the 68881/2 in a different manner than the 68030
chip does, so having one wouldn't help, unless you had software
specifically written for it. Dynacadd is an example of an ST app that
is written FOR IT. But you can get a JRI 25Mhz FPU board and add it
to the T20... or buy it from me that way... and get an FPU. It won't
help under Spectre though. That gets real complicated, SANE library
stuff etc. GA
.Dave>
Thanks Jim. GA.
.Schuylar>
The speed you stated above for the TT? Was that with or without
TTRAM, and will you be doing any boards for the TT? ga
.FASTTECH>
That's TTram... 400ns burst, the ST ram is 1 access (32bits) every
500ns time period just like the ST. Same as the ST, just 32bits
wide ;-) I am waiting to see whether the TT will be pushed hard, if
so I WILL do a combination TURBORAM/cache card for it. TURBORAM is
what we call the ram on the TT030 and it has some unique aspects ;-)
I believe Atari has done some good things to the TT very recently
that will make it a much better product soon. GA
.Schuylar>
Thanks, ga
.Gordie>
When you mentioned the ability to change the speed and caching, is
that software addressable, or is it a hardware thing? ga
.FASTTECH>
The T20 is set up for it to be HW only, the STE adapter will have the
software control on it. The board just would have gotten too big
otherwise. Most people will just use a HW switch to go between 20
and 8 at powerup. GA
.Gordie>
Is that STe adaptor shipping real soon now? <g> Or did you actually
get the info you needed? Finally. ga
.FASTTECH>
It is real soon now. I'm still waiting for the info. So I will just
pull xcontrol apart and figure it out myself. I would have liked
Atari to cough up the "standard" but that's a waste of time I guess.
GA
.Gordie>
That's too bad. But...
RMORROW>
Are your products compatible with software accelerators like Quick
ST? Is the effect additive? ga
.FASTTECH>
Yes!! In fact, TURBO20 is bundled with TURBOST, the super-duper SW
accelerator. And a new version of TURBOST will be out this summer
that is even better!!! The effect is definitely ADDITIVE. GA
RMORROW>
thanks ga
FASTTECH>
It's compatible with QuickST, but it comes with TST ;-)
.Dave>
How does PC Ditto run on the T20? GA.
.FASTTECH>
Good Question. The Floppy code is too speed sensitve, so I haven't
been able to find out yet :-( I have someone working on a patch
program to slow down the loops and make it stable again. GA
.Dave>
Thanks Jim, GA.
JBEAU>
I hate to be the one to ask blatant A or B questions, but I have been
seriously looking at the ADSpeed from ICD... Would you care to mark
the two side-by-side?
.FASTTECH>
B...that's my favorite. I don't like to cut into "other" products. I
can simply say the T20 is faster, and we've been at this a lot
longer. GA
JBEAU>
How about $ comparison?
.FASTTECH>
The T20 is $329, the Adspeed is around $249? I think, but mailorder
can have a drastic affect on price. It's a case of $ for MPH ;-)
JBEAU>
Which do you think would be easier for a person like ME to install
or are both meant for a dealer to do?
.FASTTECH>
It's a tie on the install. Both need the 68000 yanked, and that is
NOT for the faint at heart. We sell through lots of dealers that have
good techs for the install. GA
JBEAU>
I am, like Dana, a serious DTP worker... and the accelerator is
guaranteed to work with big programs like CALAMUS with no :( ?
.FASTTECH>
It makes Calamus scream!!! It's only some games and really speed
sensitive utility software... like floppy formatters... that can be
adversely affected.... and Spectrum of course ;-)
JBEAU>
:) GA
.Gordie>
How about Pagestream? ga
.FASTTECH>
Pagestream, too... all the major apps have never had trouble with
accelerators. GA
.Raven>
If we bought an accelerator from a mail order outfit that did not
install, could we send it to you? How much, how long?
.FASTTECH>
I have done this rarely. It's not something we want to make a policy
since it is very time consuming. We can refer you to any one of a
dozen great dealers that will do fast turn around in the $50-75 range
plus shipping. GA
.Raven>
Sounds good. GA
.FASTTECH>
STE installs WILL be user installations!!! Just plug it in!!! GA
.Dave>
So T20 STE installs are as easy as SIMM installs <grin>, how come? GA
.FASTTECH>
Not quite as easy, you need to take off one more shield, but the
68000 is in a SOCKET!!! Yeah!!! GA
.Gordie>
Really, Jim? My 68000 is socketed? Cool.
.FASTTECH>
So far ;-)
.The Lone STacy>
Well, back to the Stacy, the 520 T30, what is the difference between
this one and the two you mentioned <kicking dead horse>. GA
.FASTTECH>
The Tiny TURBO030 is a cache-only version that is very tiny, hence
the name. This is our finest effort in minaturization, and even the
ROMs with TOS 2.0X are little SMD chips! And the price will be around
$599...don't hold me to it though ;-)
.The Lone STacy>
sounds...small :) What will be the speedup?
.FASTTECH>
Actually smaller than the PC Speed board. It has to be to fit all
models. GA
.The Lone STacy>
Will it give say 3x my prsent speed? GA
.FASTTECH>
The worst case on the cache-only board is 3X... actually 60% in pure
memory movement like QIndexs scroll test... but 5X in most real world
stuff, like scrolling or redrawing in Calamus, etc. Surprisingly
quick actually. GA
.The Lone STacy>
WOW! Could make a real handy portable. Thanks. GA
.Gordie>
Will the Tiny TURBO030 work with the STe's. ga
.FASTTECH>
That's the idea Gordie, to fit in all ST(e)s and work. As an example,
load a 300K 7,000 line file into Tempus...already quite fast... an ST
takes 22 secs to scroll to the end of the file, the cache-only T030s
take only 4.5 secs!!! It's scary from such a small setup.
.Gordie>
Great. Another way to get a headache with my ST. <grin>
RMORROW>
Will owners of T16's be able to upgrade to T20's, like Atari Canada's
8-bit-for-ST deal? ga
.FASTTECH>
Yes, the current T16 owners get $89 off he T20 price, the offer is
extended to Sept 30th... since there are few mags to get the word out
in...and you get to keep the T16 ;-) Just send it back to be "marked"
Only one upgrade per T16 ;-)
There will be such a deal on the TURBO030 board also!! More $$ off of
course ;-) GA
RMORROW>
thanks..ga
.Dave>
Jim, the Tiny Turbo is a cache-only board; does this mean the only
diff between that and the T20 is the 030 and TOS 2.0X chips. Does it
still use 32K of cache memory? The 030 speeds it up that much, wow!!
GA.
.FASTTECH>
Yes Dave, the Tiny T030 adds the 030... still has a 68000!! And the
TOS ROMs, and adds just $270...don't hold me to that ;-)
.Dave>
Thanks Jim, see you at Atari Day! GA.
L_RYMAL>
Hi Jim, I'm slightly confused. Is the Tiny T030 upgradeable on memory
like the Turbo030? ga
.FASTTECH>
No, it has no DRAM memory, it just speeds up your ST using cache
memory. The whole DRAM system uses far too much space to squeeze
under the hood of a 1040 ;-) GA
.Gordie>
Okay, so you're saying you have 4 products. The Turbo20, the Tiny
Turbo030, the naked Turbo030, and the full-dress Turbo030. Is that
right? And the approximate prices are, $330 for the Turbo20,
tentatively $600 for the Tiny Turbo030, $900 for the naked Turbo030,
and under $2000 for the Full-dress Turbo030?
.FASTTECH>
That's about it. GA
SCOTTJ>
Jim, is it possible to add a 68040 to the ST or at least to a TT?
.FASTTECH>
It is possible. I have made arrangements with a Mac accelerator
company to license their ASIC chip for the ST market. It would make
an 040 daughter board for the T030 a much simpler job. But it will be an
expensive proposition for a few more months. I would expect Atari
themselves to be working on such a thing for the future. Let's hope!
;-) GA
SCOTTJ>
How much would it cost? Will we see it anytime soon? GA
.FASTTECH>
Chips like that don't cost a lot, the 040 costs ;-) I won't even
start to worry about it until fall, but the T030 is definitely setup
with that in mind for the future. GA
SCOTTJ>
What about a RISC Chip, like the 88k or Sparc? I've heard that there
are 68000 emulators for them. GA
.FASTTECH>
Won't happen, software is the trouble. There is always Sun though ;-)
Yes, an emulator would do the job, but the machines cost $$... $5K
minimum. GA
SCOTTJ>
Thanks. Jim.
.Gordie>
Well, Jim, it's getting pretty late, so I'll try to wind this down.
.FASTTECH>
Okay by me. GA
.Gordie>
Would you say something about how you perceive the future of the
ST/TT's here in North America? ga
.FASTTECH>
Not if my life depended on it ;-)
.Gordie>
hehehe.
.FASTTECH>
Actually, the ST is still a good value, it does the job... whatever
the job is... and so as a purchase I'd recommend it. But if you can
afford a Mac, it's mighty tempting ;-0 GA
.Gordie>
Yes, reality does intrude at times, doesn't it?
.FASTTECH>
Yep.
.Gordie>
Well, that about wraps it up. I'd like to thank Jim for joining us
here on Delphi, and I'll see about getting him here on a more regular
basis. If the rest of you don't mind, of course. <grin>
.Matt>
<applause>
.Gordie>
Any closing comments, Jim?
.FASTTECH>
Nope, just thanks a bunch for inviting me, I really enjoyed the
visit. I'll try to make it by more often, and will put up the T030
intro when I do GEnie!! Bye folks!!!
.Gordie>
This CO is officially over.
Again, thanks to JBEAU for doing most of the gruntwork in editing
this transcript. His work saved me a couple of hours of staring into
my Omnimon. My eyes appreciate it! <grin> --Gordie (aka BIBLINSKI)
*************************************************************************
This conference transcript is the exclusive property of the ST Advantage
on DELPHI. Permission to reprint is granted only if this notice is
included with the transcript and left unchanged.
************************************************************************
> TURBO 20!! STR Spotlight "The Turbo 20 board is a VERY solid!"
========================
THE T-20 IS FOR EVERYBODY!
==========================
by Doyle C. Helms
I know in my "Real World BenchMarks" article a couple of weeks ago I
said I would let the numbers do the talking for the the TURBO-20 (T-20)
accelerator because they could be much more eloquent than I in describing
the fine product from FaST Technology. Well to hell with eloquence, I've
got to tell you some more about this excellent product I've used over the
past several weeks!
The Turbo 20 accelerator board is a VERY solid and dependable add-on
from ANY ST/MEGA. I have used this unit for several weeks now and I have
experienced NO difficulties with software crashes and etc. I now wish I
had acquired a T-16 board when they first came out. I had read and heard
from various sources way back then that the T-16 was an improvement, but
was that increase worth the money?
The comments I saw and heard was that unless you were a hardcore
DTP'er or CAD user it really wasn't worth it. Well let me tell you
friends, those people that said and wrote those comments are no longer on
my list to buy anymore swampland in Florida from <wide grin>!
The T-20 is for everybody! Normal everyday use of the ST/Mega is
GREATLY ENHANCED. The Desktop windows update so quickly that I have hit
the update (Esc) key again to update the window because I didn't think it
had done so when I first did an update keying when I changed disks.
Using the ST/MEGA with T-20 installed is like it was going from the
ol' 800 to the ST/MEGA as far as the perception of the speed increase!
Granted that there is more to an ST than just the speed increase (e.g.
Desktop, mouse and etc.) Speed of process is definitely a factor.
Let me clarify at the juncture that not all programs are accelerated
by this or any other 68000 accelerator.
Games, most of all graphic games are not "speeded up" as in getting
from point A to point B any faster. Take Falcon for example. I was a
little ambivalent about flying Falcon at twice the speed and getting shot
down twice as fast <g>. Well, the speed increase with Falcon as with most
games is not in overall speed increase but with smoother animation. These
games and some other programs like WordWriter, rely on the system clock to
carry out instructions. So even if you ran Falcon on a TT you would not
get from home base to the target any faster.
Applications such as WordWriter, the scrolling of the cursor with ar-
row keys would not be 2 times the speed. This is because the programming
is set up to control the speed of this operation. Check out Tempus if you
want to see what releasing the cursor to full speed can look like! Paging
in WordWriter, (clicking in the scroll bar) would show an increase though.
Search and replace functions and such are greatly increased also.
GFA Basic Editor shows almost no increase (it is already FAST!). The
programs, either run from the editor or compiled, shows an appropriate
increase in execution. The compiling of programs is also increased
substantively.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING AND GRAPHIC DESIGN PROGRAMS
----------------------------------------------
Calamus program loads from disk very quickly (the disk access is not
speeded up, just the execution of the code after normal disk loading
time). If you read my real world benchmarks in STReport 724 you will
notice a decrease in time to load a LARGE CDK file and display it in 20Mhz
mode vice the 8Mhz mode. 49 Secs to load and display in 8Mhz is not a LONG
time you say. No it isn't for just a one time load. The "small" difference
between the 8Mhz L&D(Load and Display) time and the L&D of the 20Mhz is 26
seconds. You save more time (26 seconds) in 20Mhz the it actually takes
to L&D in 20Mhz vice 8Mhz. Confused? As started before, L&D in 8Mhz is 49
seconds, 20Mhz L&D time is 23 seconds. This comes to a savings of 26
seconds.
The screen redraws when scrolling around a document is VERY fast com-
pared to 8Mhz.Think about doing this and other L&D's over the course of
many hours and you can begin to see the finger tapping factor is greatly
reduced! The other functions in Calamus is GREATLY (close to twice in
most cases) reduced. Again reference the ST Report 724 T-20 benchmarks.
The same can be said for PageStream (1.8) in execution times of func-
tions and L&D's. The bigger difference of speed increase between
PageSTream and Calamus is the printout time. PageSTream print time is cut
by a larger margin that the one in Calamus.
Touch-Up is one of the programs that GREATLY benefits from the T-20.
The MAJOR gripe I had with Touch-Up was the excessively slow load time of
IMG files. The average L&D for a 66K IMG file is 49 seconds for 8Mhz and
22 seconds for 20Mhz mode. The T-20 was/is a godsend for Touch-Up users!
MVG. Well this program is already a fireball when it comes to speed.
The same 66K IMG file L&D time for MVG is 4 seconds for 8Mhz and 2 seconds
for 20Mhz. The difference of L&D is still about half, but to the human-
(and my sometimes sub-human<g>) mind the difference of 2 seconds is almost
imperceivable. Reference the function times in MVG. A 90 degree rotation
time of 20 seconds in 8Mhz vice 8 seconds in 20Mhz. See even MVG can
greatly benefit from T-20.
Now for one of the driest and probably most often performed operations
on the ST/Mega is archiving. Be it either ARC or LZH or whatever, this is
a boring and time consuming operation.
How many time have you gotten the LYNX out to play a game while the ST
is doing some hardcore arcing? Ever go to put on a pot of coffee while
your waiting? No more of that with T-20!
Lets look at LZHing with Quester 1.1319 and the amount of time YOU
will be saved from this tedious task.
10 files with an average size of 219672 are to be moved into an ar-
chive. The 8Mhz time is 16 minutes. 20Mhz time is 6 minutes and 47
seconds!!! Savings of *TEN* (10, count 'em, 10) minutes! I could walk
around the block in 10 minutes! To UNLZH these same files with Quester is
4 minutes at 8Mhz and 2minutes at 20Mhz.
ARC 6.02 time for Moving the same files into an arc is 13 minutes and
37 seconds at 8Mhz and 5 minutes and 43 seconds at 20Mhz. A savings of 7.9
minutes! Well, so much for playing that LYNX game.(NOTE: Although the time
for ARCing is faster than the LZHing, the compression ratio for LZH is
much greater.)
That about wraps it up for this installment. Next I will look at the
benefits of T-20 with alternate Desktops, various disk utility programs
and Databaseing. Until then, Speed on the computer dosen't kill, it saves
large amounts of hair from being pulled...
D.HELMS [GEnie]
STARTWO [Delphi- The ST Advantage! Check it out...]
P.S. I am in NO WAY associated with FaST Tech. I receive NO "perks",
special attention or any other enumeration for these articles! I paid FULL
price for my T-20 and have the canceled check to prove it! I am just a
very satisfied user/customer that is willing to share some good news ver-
sus writing a gripe letter when things are wrong and NEVER a good one when
they are right.
______________________________________________________________
> The Flip Side STR Feature "...a different viewpopint.."
=========================
A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT
==================================
by Michael Lee
The summer's just begun and already it seems to have been three months
long. With vacations, normal summer outings and holidays, some unexpected
illness in the family and other things, I haven't been able to log onto
all of the on-line services as much as I'd like to. In fact, I just
caught up with CIS and Delphi and have been afraid to even try Genie.
Hopefully, I'll be able to catch up with the Genie posts in a week or two.
So with apologies to Genie, most of the posts in this weeks column are
from CIS.
----------------
Some very interesting comments from Loic Duval, the chief editor of the
French magazine, "Atari Magazine". This section was compiled from 3-5
different posts. Also, I have left the posts mainly as-is to keep the
French 'flavor' in the posts - from CIS...
I am Loic DUVAL, the chief editor of the french mag: "Atari Magazine".
I can give you all the information you want (or need) on the european
market & products...What can I say about the french and European mar-
ket? hummmm... Atari is the European leader in the home market, with
45% of this market.
There are:
400,000 ST (STF/STE/MEGA) installed in France; 600,000 ST (maybe more)
in RFA [Germany]; 400,000 ST (maybe 500 000) in UK and also many ST's
in Belgium, Netherlands, Danemark, etc.
The Mega STE is selling very well in France (we are out of stock) and
the TT very well in Germany.
ATARI France is hoping to sell between 100,000 & 150,000 STE in 1991.
I think it will be the same thing in UK. It is a strange thing, but it
seems that Atari is now more a European company even if all the deve-
lopements are made in USA.
The professional market is very important in Germany (Atari is the
leader of this market in this country). In France professional part of
total Atari sales is between 15 & 20%.
Oh, do you know that Atari UK is developing a new add-on for STF/STE
based on a transputer T800. This add-on known as STT would be avail-
able in Europe at the end of 1991 and would have some amazing graphic
capacities. The price would be around 850 $ (US).
You have to understand that the European market is very different than
yours. The Mega STE is doing so well in our countries that Atari can't
supply everybody. For example Atari France has installed a direct
airlift between France and the factories to receive machines as fast
as possible.
Sales of the TT and MEGA STE are pretty good in Europe. The slowdown
is on the home market. The 1040 STE is selling well, but the 520 STE
meets some little drop due to economical difficulties and the strong
attack of the game systems (NES, Geo Neo, Lynx...).
----------------
About the Migraph Hand Scanner from Wayne Dunham on Delphi...
....I'll let you all in on a nifty little Item I just got for my
Migraph Hand Scanner. It's called SnapGuide. It's a small piece of
plastic that snaps right onto your Migraph scanner giving you a
straight edge on both sides of the scanner. This makes it MUCH easier
to scan a straight line by simply drawing the scanner along something
straight. A short straight edge similiar to a ruler is included in the
package.
The piece of plastic that attaches to your scanner just snaps on
without the need to take anything apart. It goes right into the slot
between the top and bottom halves of the the scanner. It 'grips' the
scanner in 4 spots. One on each side at the location of the selection
switches, and 2 others near the cord.
It works GREAT!!! Now I can scan straight images easily.
I bought it from a place called Thunderware Inc in CA. Here's the
info......
Thunderware Inc.
21 Orinda Way
Orinda, CA 94563
Tel. (415) 254-6581
Fax (415) 254-3047
It cost me $14.95 + $6 shipping and handling.
----------------
One person who was IMPRESSED with Prism-Pain and Chronos-3D - from Bill
Rayl (Atari Interface Magazine)
Having now had a few days to "play around" with both Prism-Paint and
Chronos-3D, I have to tell you I've *very* impressed. Chronos is sim-
ply amazing...I can't believe how easy it is to create animations with
this package.
First, I have to say that I'm not coming from an animation background.
I took a look at CAD-3D and all the Cyber stuff, but was turned off by
what I saw as its over-complication of the process. Some people pro-
bably liked the "programming" aspects of it. I only wanted to "goof
around" and make "simple" animations easily. Chronos-3D sure fits the
bill! I can see there's been lots of thought put into the design.
After running through the tutorials, I was off creating my own simple
animations and experimenting.
And, from the looks of it, Chronos has the power to do some pretty
neat, heavy-duty stuff. I'm looking forward to the fun I'm going to
have getting into computer animation. Thanks for making animation
software that makes the process seem more like play than work! I can't
believe how much fun this is.
Bill (a very impressed novice animator) Rayl
PS: Using Prism Paint to play around with the FLM animations created
in Chronos is a blast! Prism Paint is one heck of a nice paint pro-
gram, but don't tell Robert B. I said so. It'll just go to his head!
:-)
----------------
Ron Luks (Sysop) just got a new addition to his family, a Supra Modem
9600 - From CIS...
My SupraModem 9600 just arrived and I've been playing with it all
afternoon. It hooked up perfectly right out of the box and I was up
and running at 9600 baud in a matter of minutes.
The DOC's are very complete and I'll read it after the excitement of
the new modem wears off a bit. Fortunately, just the info in the first
chapter is all thats needed to get going.
....2400 baud seems so slow now!
BTW, I found one definite problem with the new Supramodem 9600. The
wife came into my office, took one look, and wants one for herself.
Sigh! (I should have had it sent it in a dented case so it didn't look
so d**n nice!)
Some folks asked how they could upgrade their Supra 2400's - From John
(Supra Corp) on CIS....
We have several different programs for you to trade up to the Supra
Modem 9600. Please call our sales department at 1-800-727-8772 to get
all the details.
The upgrade [from a normal Supra 2400] to the Supramodem 2400 Plus
costs $125 if you return a working Supramodem. We can ship you the new
modem and then credit you for the difference when you return the old
one. Call our sales dept. at 1-800-727-8772 if you want more info.
----------------
Information about REVOLVER from Jeff Rigby (Intersect Software) - com-
piled from two posts - on CIS...
Revolver will not work on a STE or TT. Although Revolver is TOS in-
dependent, when the hardware registers change or the method of add-
ressing those hardware registers change then Revolver won't work.
At this time we are still deciding whether to rewrite Revolver for the
STE...The programmer [who wrote Revolver] is very disappointed at the
sales volume for the ST, it was a specialized program and we expected
(projected) about 5000 copies sold during the life of the program. So
far total sales are slightly over 1000 for two years. ** He is paid on
a percentage. ** STE Revolvers based on ST sales would be less than
400. With projected sales like that he isn't willing to touch it.
There are several companies writing Multi-Tasking OS "patches" for the
TT, we may not get into that arena unless they drop the ball.
----------------
A Spectre GCR problem experienced by Alicia Dana (Lexicor Software) - on
CIS...
I've been having problems moving files between the Mac II and the
Spectre GCR. If I format the disk on my Spectre, I can read it on both
the Mac II and the GCR. But if I write to a disk using the Mac II
then I have a problem reading the disk from my spectre. I sometimes
get "this disk needs minor repair" errors and sometimes it just fails
when I am trying to copy a file onto the GCR that was written by the
Mac II.
Help from Mark (Gadgets by Small) - on CIS...
I've seen a problem like this before and it usually occurs for one of
two reasons:
1) The Mac II is equipped with a "SuperDrive" and it seems that these
drives (due to their tighter tolerances, etc.) are somewhat
problematic (with Spectre) when they are used to format the Mac disks.
The solution here is to always format your Mac disks on Spectre or
with a Mac that doesn't contain a SuperDrive.
2) One of the drives (Mac II or ST) has read/write heads that are
slightly out of adjustment. This is something that must be diagnosed
by a service tech.
You didn't say if your Mac II had a SuperDrive but I would guess that
it is the most likely possible culprit here. Always format your Mac
disks under Spectre and you *should* be OK.
Another Spectre GCR question - from John La Marsh on CIS...
We have a 4 meg TT....The problem is that we are unable to get Spectre
to recognize any of the GEM partitions so we are unable to format them
...Does anyone know what the problem could be?
Again, Mark (Gadgets by Small) to the rescue...
Spectre does not currently support the TT's internal hard drive, nor
does Spectre currently support the TT's external SCSI port. To use a
HD with Spectre it must be an "ST Compatible" external HD attached to
the TT's DMA port.
Dave tells me that version 3.1 of Spectre will fix this limitation.
----------------
Stop the presses!! MAC roms found!! From Cabell J. Fearn on CIS...
We have 128k Macintosh System ROMs for Spectre or other emulators in
stock at the moment for anyone in need of them. You can...contact one
of these addresses:
FEARN FEARN
519 W. Taylor #114 Roemerstr. 21
Santa Maria 7000 Stuttgart 1
CA 93454 W. Germany
Tel (805) 925 6682 Tel. 0711 602489
FAX 0711 649 3711
We also provide other products for use with Spectre and Macintosh such
as the SLM 804 INIT which is a 300 DPI printer driver for the Atari
Laser printer, Stalk, the AppleTalk compatible SCC card for the ST under
Spectre, and The Patch Kit which provides patches for the few programs
that don't want to run properly with the emulation. (We sell all the
Gadgets products too.)
We have a lot of experience with Spectre and Macintosh emulation in
general so if you have problems feel free to contact us.
----------------
Information about Sierra games - from the ST Roundtable on Genie...
From Fred Oliva - Cat. 9, Topic 32, message 91...
About Sierra and the ST; just wanted to remind all out there that they
are upgrading two classics: Kings Quest I and Mixed Up Mother Goose.
These two will support the Roland sound modules and have a higher
resolution than their predescors.
From David Holmes - Cat. 9, Topic 32, message 92...
Yes, the upgraded classics will be out soon. Although, I don't know if
they will be updating anymore of their games, since Space Quest I and
Leisure Suit Larry I will be VGA only for the IBM.
Sierra games have continuous music now. I recently finished Space
Quest IV, and there was non-stop music, most of it very appropriate to
the scenes. (I think Conquests of Camelot had almost continuous
music.)
----------------
Fax machines seem to be the popular rage. Here are some posts from CIS
telling how to use your ST as a fax machine - many of the replies are
compiled from 2-3 posts...
From Pattie Rayl (Atari Interface Magazine)...
I suggest the Joppa Faxmodem. It's really good, and I use mine all the
time both with Flash (As a modem) and PageStream (as a Fax machine).
You can contact Joppa Computers at (800) 876-6040. They are the ones
who created the software for the Joppa Fax. The cost, last I knew, was
$169. I could have been lowered recently.
Joppa Fax can take text, pics or documents out of PageStream and
Calamus. It connects to your ST just like a regular modem does. It's
really very simple!
From Bob Retelle (Sysop)...
...to expand on what Pattie said about the Joppafax modem system. The
software included with the modem converts a disk file into a fax com-
patible file which is then transmitted by the modem..
The original file can be an ASCII text file or a Pagestream document
(among other types), and the receiving end will get an exact duplicate
of the file. That means you could do up a fancy page with fonts and
graphics, and send it by faxmodem, and they'll get it just as if you'd
laser printed it for them.
From John Davis (Sysop)...
Believe it or not, I primarily use JoppaFax for that very reason - I
can print a PageStream document to disk and xmit it to my Fax faster
than I can print it on the printer! Pretty useful when I've got one of
those particularly complex files that takes *forever* to print
normally.
I use a NEC Pinwriter - it takes about 20 minutes to print a full
page. Printing to a disk file is much faster and I can send it to the
FAX in just a few minutes.
The resolution isn't as good - my printer is 'supposed' to be 360x360,
but it appears less than that. I believe the FAX is somewhere in the
200's. The blacks are much blacker, though, just like with a laser, so
it actually looks better than the dot matrix for some types of
documents.
----------------
Some intertaining travel stories from Bob Brodie (Atari user group co-
ordinator) - on CIS...
My Stacy has been x-rayed many, many times. No problems. With many
airports they don't care if you x-ray it or not, they still want to
check it out.
The toughest one has been Dulles International Airport in Washington,
D.C. One time I screwed up there, and forgot to charge the batteries,
or pack the a/c adapter with the case. I couldn't power it up at all
...ended up having to have the representative from United Airlines
come over and sign a waiver for me to get through.
At Charlotte, N.C. they didn't care about the Stacy...they noticed the
Portfolio on X-ray. They wanted to check it out to see what it was. Go
figure. All the airports are different.
Many of the security people don't really know what they are looking
for. I remember hand carrying a Mega 4 CPU that had just been upgraded
with a T-16 on to a flight. They asked me to turn it on. I told them I
would be happy to....and then asked them to provide a monitor. They
looked at me kinda funny. I supppose the thought of someone hand
carrying a fragile item never occured to them before! <grin>
PS- More travel stories available on request!
----------------
All of us have run into CRC errors sometime or the other. Bob Retelle
(Sysop) tries to explain what these mysterious CRC errors are - from
CIS...
...CRC means "Cyclical Redundant Checksum". That means when a file is
ARCed or tramnsmitted by modem, the program doing it will "add up" all
the bytes and store the result with the file, or transmit it along
with the block of file being sent by modem.
When you unARC the file, or your terminal program receives the block,
it "adds up" the bytes again, and compares the result it gets with the
result the original program came up with. If the two numbers match,
the chances are very good that the file is exactly the same as it was
originally..
If the two numbers do not match, something went wrong along the way,
and the file is corrupted somehow... (it's a little more complicated
than that, but that's essentially how it works..)
----------------
Until next week.....
***********************************************************************
:HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT:
_________________________________
To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
Wait for the U#= prompt.
Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.
**** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED ****
The system will now prompt you for your information.
-> NOW! GENIE BASIC STAR SERVICE IS IN EFFECT!! <-
WHAT'S NEW ON GENIE
-------------------
July 05, 1991
The GEnie ST Roundtable really has some exciting activity. Activity
is high in the libraries and the message bases. Check it out. You will
see what I mean.
David Becker (D.BECKER6) has agreed to share some of his very own
programs. I confess that I had to twist his arm but not too much so.
Type M475;3 and select option 3. Enter his GE Mail address to do a search
on the wide variety of programs he has uploaded.
With all the discussion on what compression methods we should accept,
do yourself a favor and download file# 20027 called XSHELL.LZH. Ralph
Mariano (ST.REPORT) should be thanked for sharing this do all shell.
After doing so, be sure to tell us what compression method you want by
posting in Category 1 Topic 23 in the message base.
Interested in DeskTop Publishing? Every Monday night we hold a con-
ference at 7pm western - 10 pm eastern in room 3 of the ST Roundtable con-
ference rooms.
Are you an expert in Midi? Interested in hosting a weekly conference
for us? Send mail to DARLAH <-- we will be adding a new midi conference
by August 1st.
Till next time...........
GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric
Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission
***********************************************************************
> The FUJI ZONE STR Feature "traveling through another dimension"
=========================
THE FUJI ZONE
=============
by Joe Mirando
You're traveling through another dimension,
a dimension not only of bits and bytes
but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land
whose boundaries are that of imagination.
That's the signpost up ahead.
Your next stop...
THE FUJI ZONE
Submitted for your approval, the theory that time is but one track
running parallel to many others that, under most circumstances, cannot
meet one another or exchange events.
Enter one Harrison Dearson. A young man intent on making his mark on the
computer industry. Since Harry has no talent in either programming or
systems design he has decided to make his entree by becoming indispensable
to the upper echelon of one of the larger computer companies.
In our current time-line Mr. Dearson has just gotten a job with the Atari
Computer Corporation. By not rocking the boat and telling his bosses only
what they want to hear, our young traveler has indeed ensured his
continued employment. He has also, however, ensured that the Atari Com-
puter Corporation will remain in very low popularity by the very lack of
support of and agressive marketing in the U.S. that have made him a suc-
cessful "Corporate Warrior".
In our proposed alternate time-line, however, Mr. Dearson's Taxi encoun-
ters a rather disagreeable telephone pole on it's way to Atari head-
quarters which makes the traveler an hour late for his interview. This
does not sit well with his prospective employer. Harrison Dearson is
forced to seek other employment.
The young man that does get the job in this new time-line is concerned
only with expanding the product line and the well-being of the company.
Because of this, Atari becomes the premier computer manufacturer and out-
distances all other computer companies. A sampling of the events of this
time-line bear out this conclusion:
July, 1989:
Atari introduces their Stacy portable computer. The music industry quick-
ly embraces it as the best MIDI computer around. The Stacy also becomes
quite popular with businessmen on the go who are tired of all of the "com-
mand-line nonsense". Atari's careful attention to detail permits the
Stacy to pass FCC testing quickly while the company's renewed commitment
to advertising and support in the American market provides U.S. users with
enough machines to cover the huge demand.
January, 1990:
The introduction of the STe continues the rise of Atari in the home com-
puter market. Although the machine can still show a maximum of sixteen
colors at a time, the new pallet (with a choice of 4,096 colors) and
stereo capabilities make the machine a favorite. Dealers now have
machines in stock and do a brisk business in Atari computers and
peripherals.
May, 1990:
Atari's new TT computer system based on the Motorola 68030 microprocessor
running at 32 megahertz takes the small work- station industry by storm.
With improved speed and graphics capabilities, the TT becomes a favorite
for desktop publishing, desktop video, and all other multi-media
applications. With a price well below those of comparable machines, an
Atari becomes the computer of choice in this area also.
January, 1991:
The long awaited ATW (Atari Transputer Workstation) impresses medium to
large sized businesses. With parallel processors that can reach an
appreciable percentage of super-computer speed, the ATW shows Atari's
determination to succeed in the american market and the continued "more
bang for the buck" philosophy.
February, 1991:
Atari strikes a deal with Paramount Pictures, Inc. to supply computers to
be used in production and post-production sound and graphics work. The
computers include the STe, the TT and the ATW, as well as Portfolios for
the production staff and executives (the executives use it only for the
pong game which is included with the machine).
December, 1991:
Paramount Pictures releases Star Trek VI after the shortest post produc-
tion schedule since computers entered the movie industry. The success of
the movie, which relieves executives and saves the contracts of the
actors, is credited to the abilities of the new computers purchased from
Atari.
Rambo VI, which is released by another studio at the same time, is not
well received by the public or the critics. The washed out audio and
lack-luster visual effects are widely considered to be the reason for the
films demise. As a shining example of the effects problems, one post
production worker says "The reason that this movie is titled 'Rambo VI'
instead of 'Rambo V' is that the titling software on our computers was so
difficult to use that we didn't even notice that it was titled wrong
until the Premier. Damn! I wish we had used an Atari!"
And what of our young traveler you may ask? Mr. Harrison Dearson, upon
the unsuccessful completion of his inte{view in Sunnyvale, promptly
secures a job with IBM (which, by virtue of Harry's tactics, ceases the
manufacture of personal computers ten months later).
======================================================================
Editor Note:
It would be nice....
_______________________________________________________
> WAACE/FALL'91 STR SHOW NEWS "The Premier East Coast Show!"
===========================
Blast Off With AtariFest WAACE '91
==================================
East Coast Atari fans will get their best chance for a look at all
that is new in the world of Atari on Saturday and Sunday October 12th and
13th. The Washington Area Atari Computer Enthusiasts will hold the 8th
edition of their WAACE AtariFest at the Sheraton Reston Hotel and
Conference Center in Reston, VA.
This all-Atari blast will begin with special diversions on Friday
evening as an added bonus for those who arrive early. The event will move
into high gear at 10 am on Saturday with the opening of the 7000 square
foot vendor area, 8 demonstration rooms, a special seminar series, and a
swap room. These activities will run until 5 pm.
A poolside cocktail hour starting at 6:30 pm will be a prelude to the
annual WAACE banquet. The remarks by this year's banquet speaker are sure
to be in the best tradition of Dave Small, Sig Hartmann, and Charles F.
Johnson.
Some fest goers will be sure to find things to occupy themselves into
the wee hours of the morning socializing with fellow Atarians.
On Sunday the mercantile activity, the demonstration rooms, and the
seminars will again run from 10 to 5.
The word from those who were there was that WAACE '90 was perhaps the
most successful of all US Atari shows during 1990. With new Atari tech-
nology and new offerings from hardware and software developers, the 1991
event has all of the ingredients for similar success.
The WAACE team recognizes that the people are just as important as the
products. That is why they offer this show as a complete experience, with
plenty of opportunities to learn, to buy, to socialize, or to celebrate
one's Atariness in other ways. The Sheraton Reston Hotel is a comfortable
and pleasant facility located in the close-in Virginia suburbs of
Washington DC. The hotel room rates are moderate, at $59 for a single or
double room and $65 for a triple or quad. Get your room reservations in
early to avoid the scramble that many people experienced when the hotel
filled up three weeks ahead of time last year. Call 703-621-9000 to
reserve. Be sure to mention WAACE AtariFest to get the special rate.
Computerphobes in the family can find plenty to do since the DC area
is one of America's leading tourist destinations in its own right.
Transportation is simple, with access by air, rail, and highway. The
hotel runs free shuttle buses to and from Dulles International airport.
Public bus service is available to the Metro for trips downtown.
Advance commitments from retailers and developers are coming along
nicely. Everyone who is anyone in the world of Atari is planning to be
there. Come aboard and join the fun. Keep your eyes on this space for
participation updates, banquet details, ticket pricing and other minutiae.
The officers of WAACE Inc. wish to take this opportunity to publicly
remind users of the past support that Ralph has given this event through
generous donations of hardware from ABCO Computers. Ralph has also ex-
pended a good deal of blood, sweat, and tears on our show and we are
grateful to him for that as well.
We hope to see all of you there to participate in the ongoing Atari saga.
___________________________________________________
> NEOCHROME WHA?? STR Feature NEOCHROME ... PD?
===========================
STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES' MOUTH
===============================
Issue #3
By Lloyd Pulley
There's been a lot of discussion recently on CIS as to whether Neochrome
.09 and Neochrome 2.x are in public domain/shareware as both have been
found floating around the nations BBSes.
Whats Neochrome 2.x? It's a program that the British Magazine 'ST USER'
recently distributed on their cover disk. This is a 'hacked' version of
Neochrome 1.0 and is more commonly called Neochrome Master. According to
the information supplied by the person who modified it, he did it with
permission from Atari. Users of Neochrome Master are either supposed to
send shareware payments to him or directly to Dave Staugus (the original
programmer from Atari).
Well, it seems that he wasn't telling the truth. The following are some
posts from CIS that are "Straight from the Horses' Mouth" and should
clear up this situation.
From Atari Interface Magazine:
"I called Atari and spoke with Leonard Tramiel himself, and he stated
that he never gave out the source code to NeoChrome. Further...the only
PD version of NeoChrome is 0.5, with 0.9 being not pd but 'it got out'
and Atari's not worrying about because it has 'limitations'."
From Bob Brodie, Atari's User Group Co-ordinator:
"What happened is a group of guys disassembled NeoChrome and added a
bunch of features to the product. Then they gave a copy of it to Allan
Pratt at a German show (Cebit? Dusseldorf? I don't remember!) and wrote
a letter to Dave Staugus asking his blessing of their efforts. They even
offered to share their shareware payments with him."
"This overlooks the fact that Dave programmed NeoChrome as part of his
employment at Atari...and that all the code he generated is Atari's pro-
perty, not Dave Staugus'. While Dave was quite flattered that someone
went to all that effort, he was not in a position to authorize or deny
such a request, so it went to Leonard. Leonard said no. (Surprised? :)"
"To my mind, the biggest problem with this is the derivative work issue.
If we set a precedent by freely allowing copyright software to be modi-
fied, it could cause a lot of headaches. So, we simply don't authorize
it."
From Bob Brodie, Atari's User Group Co-ordinator:
"I have checked on NeoChrome Master with Leonard Tramiel, VP of Software
for Atari. Our position is that NeoChrome Master violates our copy-
righted software, NeoChrome. NeoChrome Master is a derivative work of
NeoChrome that was released without the consent of Atari Corporation.
Our position is that it is a pirated version of NeoChrome."
"FYI, we are indeed still selling NeoChrome. And we will continue to
enforce our copyrights on it."
"Please do not distribute NeoChrome Master, nor post it on any bulletin
board or online service."
________________________________________________________________
> STR Mail Call "...a place for the readers to be heard"
=============
STReport's MailBag
==================
From CIS, another editor's perception......
J#: 27407 S8/Hot Topics
01-Jul-91 10:52:15
Sb: #27342-#STR 724 ATARI NEWS 1ST!
Fm: Atari Explorer [John] 76004,1616
To: SYSOP*Bob Retelle 76702,1466 (X)
As an official mouthpiece for Atari, I feel obliged to answer that
last message -- though not, I should add, in any official capacity (it's
only 10:30 AM, and I worked all weekend, so I'm on 'free time' now). Two
replies, actually. First, I don't quite see how Don Thomas 'Revolution'
can be seen as self-serving. Officially, Atari has given it only limited
nods of support, and the Revolution Handbook was produced entirely
out-of-house, without any direct or indirect financial, equipment,
distribution, or other support from Sunnyvale. Nor can Don's Artisan
Software interests really be held as more than incidental benificiaries of
the Handbook. From where I stand, he'll ve very lucky to come close to
breaking even on sales. In fact, I perceive the Revolution Handbook as
something almost unique in American marketing history: an almost entirely
altruistic gesture by a true fan of Atari systems.
Second, w/regard to ST Report, they're free to write what they want
(as long as it isn't libelous or slanderous), and others are free to read
it or not, as they wish. Atari's response to ST Report is also "okay,"
when considered in the light of typical subject responses to unfavorable
news media coverage. I mean, it would be a *little* disappointing if they
just rolled over and took it, right?
However -- there is a certain kind of problem with 'relevance' that
has yet to be discussed. American journalism tends, from time to time, to
get into a bizarre kind of waltz with its subjects, where everybody dances
a perverse three-step to the music of the Bill of Rights, while readers
look on and wonder at the degree of ego-involvement that's being expres-
sed. My question, in sum, is that I wonder how healthy such a high degree
of ego-involvement can be. From time to time, the media's tendency to
dwell on juicy gossip, and subject's tendency to conceal (or seek to con-
ceal) such gossip verges on what I'd call a 'codependent' dipole ... oc-
casionally even surpassing codependency and going over the line into a
kind of mutual paranoia. Ultimately, a certain kind of news has very lit-
tle to do with the price of beets.
J#: 27443 S8/Hot Topics
02-Jul-91 13:55:42
Sb: #27412-STR 724 ATARI NEWS 1ST!
Fm: Atari Explorer [John] 76004,1616
To: LLOYD PULLEY 72637,745 (X)
Don published the Revolution Handbook out of his own pocket, and earns
a flat salary from Atari, so it's hard to see how he's "losing money in
one place only to gain it in another." The two are functionally unrelated.
Nor do I see any relation between the Revolution Handbook and Atari's for-
mal marketing efforts. As I mentioned, the Handbook got only small nods of
acknowledgement from Atari's Marketing Division, and can in no way be con-
sidered as related to, or originating from, Atari Corporation. What Don
Thomas does on his own time is, one assumes, Don Thomas' business.
I agree that a degree of ego-involvement is important in maintaining
the balance of power between media and its subjects. I simply question
the degree of involvement that I see in certain cases. I'd also like to
clarify that I am in no way criticizing Ralph Mariano, or any other Atari
journal in a specific way. In fact, I've never read anything too terribly
variant from gospel truth in STR -- when Ralph reports a rumor, he says
it's a rumor, so the presence of rumor in STR's content is perfectly ac-
ceptable according to any journalistic code of ethics with which I'm
familiar.
All I'm trying to say is that occasionally, a hypothetical
journalist's ego involvement with a subject becomes excessive -- that is,
it becomes charged with a dynamism that has its roots in obsession. When
this happens, the journalist always runs the risk of writing bad stuff,
and/or committing one of a variety of ethical indiscretions. The kind of
bad journalism I'm talking about involves the relation of things to one
another that are essentially irrelevant, such as "personal" gossip to
"business" gossip. And it always seems to result from one of two (and
usually both) desires on the journalist's part. First is the desire to
appear superior/important/well-connected/heroic with regard to the
subject. And second is the desire to exercise control over the subject.
These two desires are classic components of what has come to be called, in
therapeutic circles, the "codependent" etiology.
As journalists, we should try to remind ourselves that the role of the
media in reality always differs from that proposed in theory. That while
we'd all like to think of ourselves as working to "inform an audience ob-
jectively," it is impossible to do this given the practical realities of
language, thought, opinion, and the market. Really, what we're most often
doing (and this is in IDEAL circumstances) is laboring to write material
out of our own knowledge, opinions, and preconceptions, that is primarily
factual in content, in a form acceptable to our audience, who -- let us
remember -- has their own agenda of knowledge, opinions, preconceptions,
and appetites. Given this already hard-to-navigate psychological terrain,
it's all too easy to allow pathology to creep in.
I find that when I'm writing "real" journalism (as opposed to content
controlled marketing communications type material), it's useful to remind
myself that I am always writing from a point of view, and that the point
of view I should seek to adopt is that of my average reader, as he/she
would like to consider themselves in ideal terms. I also like to remind
myself that being "smart" isn't my object, so much as it is to make my
reader "smarter" in the process of reading my piece. And finally, that my
role isn't to control my subject by calling down the wrath of a justly
inflamed audience -- their inflammation is their business, not mine.
It's also cunning to ask oneself, on a case-by-case basis, the
following question: "Would my subject appreciate this coverage (bad or
good), as opposed to the possible alternative of *no coverage.*" What-
ever the answer turns out to be, in a particular case, it serves as an
object lesson that the greatest single power the independent media wields
is, after all, the power to ignore.
Editor Note:
------------
John, My compliments! You have provided a viewpoint I can agree with.
Although I find it very difficult at times to ignore the "corporate gnats
and the gnat brigade", it does make good sense. Your comments, unlike
many of those eminating from the west coast, have made your point without
undo emotional involvement. I thank you, ever so much, for providing an
excellent example of calmly approaching the situation and offering an
intellegent, well thought out opinion in a highly professional manner.
from Delphi....
29-JUN-1991 00:28:55.53
From:MRJOSEPH
To: RMARIANO
CC:
Subj: STR726
Quoting DeSade (end of STR726) seems an appropriate response to
Atari's dealer price increases (among other stupid moves). We all must be
masochists to endure the sadism Atari keeps inflicting on it's own users.
I've had at least 3 friends who wanted an ST after seeing what mine could
do. Being honest, I had to tell them how users in the US (probably Europe,
too) are constantly being screwed by Atari's "Let The Buyer BEWARE"
attitude toward their products (at least the ones they aren't pushing
'this week'; MIDI one day, DTP the next, and now we have a WORKSTATION
available...).
Atari should focus on these applications ALL AT THE SAME TIME, not
with the fickle,"Let's follow the market" philosophy that has been their
downfall ever since the beginning. It must be one hell of a tax shelter
for the Tramiel's, why else would they keep trying to run their company
into the ground. I would like to crate up my ST and ship it to Sam, along
with a letter telling him what he can do with it (if he can find room next
to his head). I can't though. My ST is too valuable to me, and Mr.
Tramiel has proven again and again that he doesn't know what to do with
one. Thank you for ST Report. I just hope that there's always an ST (or
TT) there for you to report ON.
Later,
MRJOSEPH
From GEnie...
Item 4296593 91/06/23 07:41
From: M.KOHL1 Michael J. Kohl
To: ST.REPORT Ralph F. Mariano
Sub: Non-Atari Articles
Ralph,
I am writing in support of the "non-Atari" content of STReport.
Although I love my new Mega4STe, I work with Macs and PCs at the Univer-
sity where I'm employed. No computer group is an island, and it's been
very helpful to know what the rest of the computer world is talking about.
Atari users and developers need to know what's happening on other
platforms so they can say "my computer can do that just like the other
computers can, for less money!"
From CIS....
J#: 47163 S1/Forum Business
21-Jun-91 10:18:10
Sb: #47161-Insult to Atari ST users
Fm: Jim Johnson 75300,353
I used to program professionally for the ST. I did this for about
three years, spending many hours combing bookstores for the pittance of
info available on the machine, and watching the magazines slowly disappear
from the shelves.
Finally, I had a technical problem with my computer - and, in this
city of 1.6 million people, could not find a soul to fix it! So I
reviewed the quarterly royalties I was receiving on my programs (another
pittance), and decided to kiss it off. Now, I program on the PC. I can
make a living at it, and there is no shortage of info on the machine.
I wish I had started with the Amiga. It _might_ have a future. The ST
does not.
Jim
from the FNET...
Conf : Atari 16/32 Bit
Msg# : 18717 Lines: 18 Read: 1
Sent : Jun 9, 1991 at 4:03 PM
Recv : Jun 10, 1991
To : Ralph Mariano
From : Dave Malcom at The O-Mayer V 592: Los Angeles
Subj : Re: <18574> Atari's future
I hear of rumors about soon to be released CD Rom units for the Atari,
but what have you heard about OCR capabilities for the Atari? As the bus-
iness community progresses toward the paperless office with OCR scanning
at the keystone, where is Atari?
I too don't see them lasting more then, lets say five years at the
present rate. The IBM's and MAC's already have the software market, IBM
clones have already closed the price margin Atari use to comercialize, and
the ease of use margin is rapidly being consumed also. In the new tech-
nology market where does Atari stand? Where is the high density disk dri-
ves that have been avalible for quite some time now? Where is the OCR
technology?
Where is the CD Roms that have been out for quite some time now? You
now have third parties spending millions of dollars in R&D to capture a
specific audience in the IBM/MAC market. Can Atari hold on? For how long
can Atari hope to keep their clients happy by making them wait and watch
what the other companies on the cutting edge are doing and trying years
down the road to make the technology avalible to their clients when it has
become absolete.
Dave Malcom
__________________________________________________________
> MAC REPORT
==========
Issue #012
----------
by Robert Allbritton
First off, I must apologize for my absence. About a month ago I set
off for a quick (10 day) trip to Japan, well that turned into a month long
round the world tour, which while interesting, is not the big news of the
week. Lets get on with it.
--==<< IBM and Apple Computer Announce Agreement >>==--
Apple Computer Inc and International Business Machines Corp. announced
on Wednesday their intentions to jointly create and develop new software
products. The letter of intent, signed by the two computer manufacturers,
covers four basic areas:
- A new joint venture company will be formed. Its management will be in-
dependent of Apple and IBM, but it will be given charge for developing
a next generation operating system.
- The integration of Apple's Macintosh environment and operating system
into IBM's long term strategy.
- Apple will use the RS/6000 RISC processor in a new line of workstation
products. The chip will be manufactured under license by Motorola Inc.
In addition Motorola and IBM will design and manufacture a new family
of microprocessors.
- The two companies will bring forth common platforms and encourage wide
spread industry support for these new technologies.
This agreement has been one of the worst kept secrets in the computer
industry for many months now, but it is surprising in two respects: First,
that it occurred at all, and second, that it was more comprehensive than
expected. The two manufactures have been rivals for quite some time, but
politics, and business, make odd bedfellows.
There are several theories floating around as to why and how this
shotgun marriage came to pass. One popular line of thinking claims that
the two companies basically forced themselves into one another's arms.
IBM and Apple were being surrounded by the Advanced Computing Environment
group (ACE) led by Microsoft, Digital, and Compaq. The intent of the ACE
group is to lead the way in the development of the next generation of per-
sonal computers and workstations, and until Wednesday they had no real
competition. Some have gone as far as to say that Microsoft, and its
chairman Bill Gates, had formed ACE as a unified front so that Microsoft
would be guaranteed development of any next generation operating system
while other ACE companies would be left to design the hardware (Digital,
Compaq, et al.)
The IBM / Apple pact forms a similar team that represents between one
third and one half of all of the small computers sold in America. The IBM
/ Apple joint venture is being seen as a threat to MS-DOS for
microcomputers and, to a lesser extent, UNIX on workstations. The two
companies bring a considerable amount of already developed technology into
the new venture as well. IBM has been working with its version of UNIX
(AIX) for quite some time, and Apple brings the new technology it had been
working on for its next generation operating system called "pink." What
this next joint venture will attempt to bring forth is a product that will
be compatible with many different families of microprocessors including
IBM's RS/6000 RISC chip, Motorola's 680x0 family, and Intel's 80x86
family. Apple will lend its expertise in user interfaces, while IBM will
lend its experience with compatibility and connectivity. Much of the new
operating system will rely on "object oriented" programming that allows
the operating system to do much more of the work than current operating
systems allow, thus it makes it much easier to port programs from computer
to computer. In short, it could well be "UNIX for the rest of us."
Yet it is important to note that an undertaking of this nature will
take years to fully develop. No-one is expecting to see this new
operating system before the middle of the decade. However; what make the
letter of intent so interesting is that it is even more comprehensive than
this extensive joint venture. In the short run, not only has IBM
legitimized the entire Macintosh line to corporate America, but IBM may
actually wind up marketing Macintosh. In a similar move, Apple may wind
up marketing IBM's RISC workstations. This should not be confused with
the new joint venture, and it is mainly meant as a short term situation
until the new machines are on-line.
There are several other key issues involved here as well. The Apple /
IBM pact will also begin immediately sharing technology on multimedia sys-
tems. Most of this technology flow will go from Apple to IBM (IBM has been
very interested in Apple's new QuickTime extensions that allow real time
compression, decompression, record and playback of video in a window).
And Apple and IBM will join forces in development of their own versions of
UNIX (IBM's AIX and Apple's A/UX). But most ironic was the blow dealt to
Intel.
IBM and Motorola will also join forces to develop a new family of
microprocessors based on IBM's POWER RISC 6000 technology, and share these
new microprocessors with Apple. This completes a triad of Motorola, Apple
and IBM with a firm agenda for the future against the ACE group of Intel,
Compaq, Digital and Microsoft with a more lose agenda. It also leaves
workstation manufactures like Sun Microsystems in a bind. Sun's software
base gives it strength, but its weak architecture leaves it vulnerable.
Sun may well be faced with a choice of join the ACE group or suffer los-
ses.
Several legal eagles have pointed to the recent FTC investigation of
Microsoft for potentially unfair business practice and say that the Apple
/ IBM pact may be headed for similar trouble, but so far Apple has denied
it, emphasizing that the two companies will continue to market machines
separately. While the Justice Department here in Washington is still
reviewing the proposed pact, several experts have expressed their doubts
that it will be challenged. Additionally it should be noted that the ink
is only drying on the letter of intent, and no formal contract has been
signed (which should occur later this year,) but these two companies are
an absolute clash as far as corporate identity goes. IBM has always main-
tained the image of professionalism: buttoned down white shirt, dark
suit, dark tie. Apple's definition of formal means that socks are requi-
red. This can cause problems when hammering out a major alliance, but ap-
parently the two companies really feel the need to work together. The two
companies went so far as to take IBM corporate jets to unusual meeting
places such as Austin, Texas to avoid detection. Yet in spite of the
precautions, this deal has been one of the worst kept secrets in the in-
dustry. It is also growing apparent that the deal is the brainchild of
the number two men at IBM and Apple: Michael Spindler, President of Apple
USA, and IBM's president for personal computers.
This announcement is only two days old, and in spite of it occurring
right at the Fourth of July holiday, it has still managed to cause an
uproar in the computer industry. Some have compared it to a merger of
Ford and General Motors, other have said it is like England and France
joining to attack Germany. Whatever the case, more fallout will occur in
the next week and we will have a follow up report at that time.
__________________________________________________________
> VIEWPOINTS STR FOCUS "May be a better way........"
====================
ONE MAN'S VIEW
==============
Issue #1
by Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr.
Last week, ZNet (issue 91-27) told us about a 'smoking' deal on 1200
baud modems. DANMARK (a company that specializes in selling over-stock,
close-outs, bankruptcy stock, etc.) is offering the Atari SX-212 1200
baud modems for only $29.99. I think that ZNet did the entire Atari com-
munity (not just the ST owners) a great service by telling us about this
great deal.
One of the major 'names' from Atari came on-line on Genie to tell ZNet
how much he appreciated their picking up on things like the sale of
SX212 modems and to make sure that they told the eight bitters about
DANMARK selling the modems.
I started thinking. If he and Atari were really so concerned about the
Atari users, and wanted them to know about this great deal, why didn't
Atari offer it to their users first before going to DANMARK.
If DANMARK can sell the units for $29.95, then Atari must have sold the
units to DANMARK for $15-$20 (just a guess) or less! If Atari was really
so concerned about their long suffering, loyal users, they could have
offered us a chance to pick up one of the SX212 modems for $20-$25
first. Several positive things could have resulted from this action...
1) Atari could have made more money per unit. Who knows how many 100's
of thousands of dollars they already lost on the SX212 fiasco (another
case of "a day late and a dollar short"), and this could have helped to
keep the losses to a minimum.
2) All Atari users could have gotten even a better deal. Instead of
$29.95, they could have gotten a SX212 for $20-$25. That $5-$10 spends
better in the users pockets than it does in DANMARK's.
3) Atari could have used it as a way to say "thank you" to all of the
remaining Atarians, especially the 8-bit users who haven't seem much new
from Atari in a long time.
...I'm sure that someone will say that Atari is not setup to handle in-
dividual orders. Well, that is wrong. They have the mechanism already
in place from the Portfolio.
Others might say that it was easier and cheaper for Atari to just dump
the SX212 modems all at one time. I might have to agree with them. If
you figure everything with a cold-hearted, 'dollars and cents' attitude
(aka 'Horray for me, the heck with thee attitude'), that was the proper
business thing to do.
But I feel if Atari was _truly_ concerned about their users, especially
the 8-bit users, they would have displayed a little more 'warmth in
their hearts'. After all, they had probably already lost 100's of
thousands of dollars on this fiasco, what's another few bucks to keep
good customer relations?
__________________________________________________________
> STR Portfolio News & Information Keeping up to date...
================================
THE ATARI PORTFOLIO FORUM
=========================
On CompuServe
by Judith Hamner 72257,271
Since the HP95LX has been released, several Portfolio owners are lus-
ting after 512K memory. Megabyte Computers has a 512k upgrade for the
Port. See message #13355 for Craig Davis's report on his experiences with
the upgrade. Message #13420 and 13421 contain comments from Atari on the
upgrade.
David Stewart 73770,2021 is accepting orders for his preliminary ver-
sion of the 60 column by 10 row terminal program.
Have you ever wished that the Portfolio's Apps were available for your
desktop? DIP has the software. Contact Atari to express your interest if
you want to help make them available in the US.
DESIGN.ZIP is a new upload this week. This graphic demo produces
designs on screen. Does the thought of using del with wildcards fill your
heart with terror? VDEL.COM is a program just for you. This handy utility
will prompt you for confirmation before deleting each file name matched.
For those looking for external storage PDD1.ZIP has programs to let you
read and write to the Tandy PDD1 disk drive. Windows for the Port? Not
quite, but PRTCRD.ZIP offers a Windows 3.0 cardfile and utilities to con-
vert between .CRD and .ADR files.
It's vacation time for this columnist. There will be no report for
the next few weeks as I head into the sunset. Look for a "catch up"
report late in July.
_______________________________________________________
> STReport CONFIDENTIAL "ATARI NEWS & EVENTS!"
=====================
- New York City, NY NOTEPAD (STYLUS) - BOOK; DELAYED
-----------------
It seems the LCD screens used in these devices are in very short sup-
ply. Worldwide, many palmtop manufacturers have been receiving their
screens but only small portions of their orders. The "Palmtop" rage has
taken off with such gusto the entire industry has been caught off guard.
The three major LCD screen manufacturers are swamped with orders. Atari's
"Stylus" is reported to be ready for FCC inspection, it only awaits the
arrival of LCD screens. The delays for general release could possibly
range from 3 months to a year. Industry analysts predict these events,
the short supply - high demand, will force pricing to remain high for some
time to come.
- Dusseldorf, Germany EVERYTHING ON HOLD 'TILL BIG SHOW!
-------------------
Unix is predicted to rule this show, system 5 will debut here in Ger-
many, (what else is new?) and orders will be taken at this time. Accor-
ding to our sources, most all new releases and launches are being held up
for debut at this show. Calamus SL is receiving "rave" reviews by those
over there who been fortunate enough to 'play with it'. Atari has been
offering 'free' booth space to US developers in a strong push to gain bet-
ter US developer participation in European shows.
- Sunnyvale, Ca CD ROM WHEN?
-------------
Maybe by the time Comdex rolls around. What? We must wait that long?
Yes bunkie, thats if it all goes well. Even though Meta-Dos is there,
thats all thats there. Oh well so much for more "on time" product
availability. Insiders feel the CD ROM, the new model, may just be a
pleasant dream to be hoped for and talked about long after the "smoke has
cleared" and the vision of the dream has faded.
- New York City, NY IBM & APPLE MAKE IT FORMAL!
-----------------
In an expected announcement, IBM and Apple corps. have made a formal
announcement confirming an agreement detailed here last month. Industry
observers further mentioned that the agreement was also induced by a
rather sluggish computer marketplace in the USA due to the recession.
While announcing the co-operative agreement both IBM and Apple made it
clear that the emphasis would remain on the continued lowering of prices
for the computers they offer. Analysts further concluded that Apple's
Classic sales have been better than expected and as a result, have induced
the company to agressively persue a larger marketshare in this area.
- Orlando, FL BRODIE TO VISIT THE SUNSHINE STATE
-----------
July 14, 1991 is the day, the location is; 2pm United Telephone Buil-
ding Altamonte Springs, highway 436, west of I-4. Interested folks may
call Bob Smith, president of Mid-Florida Atari Computer Club at 407-299-
5374 for further information.
______________________________________________________
> Hard Disks STR InfoFile ***** ABCO SUMMER '91 SPECIALS! *****
=======================
** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! **
ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC.
P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672
Est. 1985
_________________________________________
Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT
BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST
FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT
_________________________________________
HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET
_________________________________________
All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST
are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s).
*-ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE-*
(you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!)
(all cables and connectors installed)
* ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS *
* ICD ADSCSI+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED *
* SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS *
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
Deluxe 2 bay Cabinet w/65w auto-switching PS
TIME PROVEN to be the most reliable!
Model Description Autopark Price
==================================================
SGN4951 51Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 479.00
SGN1096 85Mb 24ms 5.25" Y 549.00
SGN2055 105mb 12ms 3.5" Y 649.00
SGN6277 120Mb 12ms 3.5" Y 789.00
SGN1296 170Mb 12ms 3.5" Y 1019.00
==================================================
FULLY ASSEMBLED SCSI DRIVES DEDUCT $60.00
ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY SUPER CABINET w/250+w PS
EXOTIC TOWER CABINETS AVAIALABLE Call for Info!
PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only!
CPU ACCELERATOR & MEMORY UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED
>> ABCO is now taking orders for 1040 & MEGA STe Computers! <<
Call for VERY special Introductory prices!
ATARI COMPUTERS * STILL THE BEST VALUE!
If you don't see what you want listed here, call us.
Odds are we have it or, can get it for you!
AT THE BEST POSSIBLE PRICE!
"We service what we sell. (IF necessary)"
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* SYQUEST 44MB (#555) >> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE *
- SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADSCSI PLUS H/A
- ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable
- Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply
(1) 44 MB Syquest Cart.
--->> SPECIAL! NOW ONLY __$ 645.00__ <<---
**** SCSI UNITS -> ONLY $585.00 ****
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN!
Cart and Utility Software Included!
EXTRA CARTS: $ 74.50
DRIVE MECH ONLY: $ 349.95
****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ******
* TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT *
SPECIALLY PRICED ** $1019.00 **
Includes TWO cartridges!
* SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS *
- Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives -
50mb SQG51 $ 819.00 85mb SQG96 $ 1019.00
LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS
CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
Listed above are a sampling of the systems available.
Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations
(over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited)
ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/PC SPEED - GCR
LARGER units are available - (Custom Configurations)
*>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<*
- Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets -
* SLM 804 Replacement Toner Cartridge Kits $42.95 *
* Toner Starter Kits $49.95 *
* Replacement Drums $183.95 *
>> MANY other ATARI related products STOCKED <<
ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED
-* 12 month FULL Guarantee *-
(A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE)
WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!<
QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE!
_________________________________________
DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED!
please, call for details
Personal and Company Checks are accepted.
ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY!
CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319
Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service
9am - 8pm EDT
Tues thru Sat
ABCO is EXPANDING!! CALL FOR INFORMATION!
____________________________________________________________
> A "Quotable Quote"
==================
"He who sacrifices one small bit of Liberty,
in the cause of Law and Order...
will have neither, and will lose both!"
....Thomas Jefferson
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport International Online Magazine?
Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
STReport? "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" July 05, 1991
16/32bit Magazine copyright = 1987-91 No.7.27
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors/staff, PCReport, STReport, AMReport, MCReport. Permission to
reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint
must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's
name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in
any way without prior written permission. The entire contents, at the
time of publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors,
contributors and/or staff are not responsible for the use/misuse of infor-
mation contained herein or the results obtained therefrom.
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
-----------------------------------------
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